Victorian Era Food For Poor People: Dry Bread, Onions, Milk, Meat

Despite the progressive nature of England in various fields during Victorian times, the people within the country faced challenges like the limitation of food.

Was Victorian food healthy and nutritious?

The nutritional value of Victorian era food was very low thus prevented those who ate it from the basic nutrition. The accessibility of good and healthy food directly depended upon the income of a person and during 1830-1840 the income of people had drastically reduced owing to the depression. With limited money in hand, the Victorian people were forced to live a hard life.

By the end of 1840s things began to improve. The working class started having white bread and tea as their staple food. Around this time, women had started working outside to support their families and in such a situation, buying ready to eat meals was the only option left and was also at times affordable.

So what did Victorian poor eat?

The basic difference between an upper-class house and a working class house would be in terms of the food. In the case of the wealthy, there would be a variety of bread to choose from and other ingredients like onions, meat, butter, cheese, etc which formed a part of their life.

But in the case of the poor people, their diet was limited to dry bread, onions, milk, etc. The meat was something all respective of their class enjoyed. The poor, however, had beef only on special occasions. At times, these people were even forced to survive on bread and coffee and could enjoy the taste of butter once in a while.